Extending their previous session northward journey, the US markets closed marginally in green on Friday. While buying interest was somewhat subdued on the day, the Dow and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in over a month. Traders continued to pile-up positions in risky assets after release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting. The minutes showed that Fed members were concerned about global growth risks and decided it was prudent to wait for additional information before raising interest rates. Combined with recent jobs and trade data, the minutes helped reinforce the view that the Fed will not raise rates later this month and may delay its first rate hike into next year. However, gains remained capped as traders remained on sidelines ahead of the release of earnings news from a number of big name companies next week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 33.74 points or 0.20 percent to 17,084.49, Nasdaq added 19.68 points or 0.41 percent 4,830.47 and the S&P 500 gained by 1.46 points or 0.07 percent to 2,014.89.
Indian ADRs ended mixed, HDFC Bank was down 0.84%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down 0.23% and Infosys down by up 0.01%. On the other hand, Tata Motors was up by 0.76% and Wipro was up 0.22% and ICICI Bank was up by 0.15%.